Cell cycle disruption in wild rodent populations as an endpoint in detecting exposure and effect.

Environmental pollutants manifest their detectable effects in natural fauna along a continuum ranging from acute lethality (i.e. rapid death of the organism) to those outwardly invisible. Characterizing and quantifying these “invisible”, sublethal effects yields the most conservative estimates of risk to human and ecological health. Recently, scientists have begun to focus on developing and integrating bioassays which afford a finer resolution of these often “unobserved” effects (Bickham 1990, Dallas and Evans 1990, Murdoch and Hebert 1994, Shugart et al. 1992, Theodorakis and Shugart 1997). Bickham and Smolen (1994) propose the use of cytogenetic and molecular genetic techniques to identify heritable and somatic effects within individuals and populations to address both ecological and evolutionary concerns. In short, these techniques provide information for detecting short and long-term health effects and subsequent decisions addressing these concerns.